Children's perceived quality of significant relationships and socioemotional adjustment

The present study extends research on interpersonal relations to preadolescence by introducing the Children's Inventory of Significant Relationships (CISR), a self-report measure of children's perceived quality of relations with their primary caregiver, a significant adult, and a significant child. Estimates of internal consistency, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability were adequate. Factor analyses revealed three factors for each relationship scale: affect, support, and security. Children most frequently identified their mother as the primary caregiver, their father or grandmother as the significant adult, and a friend or a sibling as the significant child. Children who identified a sibling as the significant child reported lower perceived quality of the relationship than did children who identified a friend or a cousin. Some racial differences in the selection of significant others were noted. Children reported relatively consistent levels of perceived quality across the three relationships, which were positively associated with self-esteem and negatively associated with depression, loneliness, and social anxiety. Relations with primary caregiver and significant adult were also positively related to social preference by peers